The Doctor's Trial
by Cat 2
Summary: Weapon X is on Trial, and the surivors have to testify against their tormentors. Warning will contain scenes of physical and mental toture but not in the first couple of chapters, but you have to review to get past them .
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: X-Men and all characters within are property of Marvel, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation and Harry Flashman, who is based on the character created by George Macdonald Fraser. This story is only made for entertainment value. (The percentage of rapes reported to the police is curtsey of Wikipedia. And the quote comes from Aftermath by Siegfried Sassoon (March 1919). This takes place after Secret Invasion, when Marvel will (hopefully) have restored the world to rights.

The Doctor's trial.

"You're kidding!" Nick Fury still found it amazing that despite nearly sixty years in America and Canada, when she was excited, Cat's British accent returned with vengeance. "You've caught them?"  
The lawyer nodded.

"A routine raid on a clinic turned up mutant experimentation. We ran the names though the system and they turned up on the Weapon X wanted list."

He glanced at Fury.

"After all these years." Harry Flashman seemed almost as shocked as his subordinate. Nick didn't blame him. When he'd first got the message, he had to reread it five or six times to make sure he'd understood it correctly. And even then he'd asked Dum Dum to check that it was genuine before he told Cat.

The shock was wearing off, as was the joy. Nick could see the tension and wariness creeping back into the mutant's face. She wanted to know why he was telling them this.

"What'll happen to them?"  
The lawyer tensioned.  
"Unfortunately the experiments at the clinic were conducted on willing subjects."

"Mutants seeking a cure." Cat stated the light dying from her eyes. Nick felt sorry for her.

"However," the lawyer's face was now beaming. "Owning to the recent changes in the law, we can now prosecute them for Crimes against Humanity."

There was a silence in the room, as Nick and Flashman both looked at Cat. Her face was becoming darker and darker, as she realised what they were asking her to do.

"If you testify of course."

Nick had to hand it to Flashman. The guy was quick.

"This has been a great shock to all of us. If you could give us some time to-"

"No!" the word burst from Cat's mouth like a bullet.

"To discuss it!" Flashman said with equal focus glaring at Cat.

"Of course." The lawyer got to his feet and left.

"There's nothing to discus Flash!" cat said angrily. "I'm not testifying."

"You had a bad shock; you might want to think about it..."  
"There's nothing to think about. I'm not doing it."

"Cat..."  
"NO! "Cat screamed, jumping up. "I won't. I can't face them." She turned and fled from the room.

The lawyer, who had evidently been standing just outside the door, stepped back in.

"She said no, didn't she?"

The expression on Fury's and Flashman's faces appeared to answer his question, for he swore.

"None of them will. I've spoken to Wolverine, Maverick, Jon Wraith. They all refuse to testify, and that kid, Bucky, he'll only testify if she," he jerked his head at the door, "gives him permission."  


"She will do, if he wants to." Flashman said reassembly. "She's not for them going free; she just doesn't feel she can face them."

"Why?" demanded the lawyer frustrated. "You'd think they'd be relieved."  
"What percentage of rape victims are willing to testify against their rapists?" Fury growled.

"Excuse me?"  
"What percentages of people who've been raped are willing to stand up in court and face their tormentors?"  
"16 percent are reported to the police."  
"And what percentage of those goes to court?"

The lawyer fell silent.

"That's what I thought." Nick replied.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had never ceased to amuse Nick Fury how two mutants with such similar powers could react so different to situations.

While both had the instinctive desire to get away from people, they did it very differently.

While Logan fled to large open spaces, Cat tended to squeeze herself into as smaller space as she could manage.

On the Helicarrier, the usual place for this was the engine room, where an extremely worried, and new, engineer, informed him that Cat had vanished into the room.

Nick nodded and entered. The huge engines roared above his head, and the scent of oil and grease penetrated his nostrils.

"I'm not testifying."

She had followed her usual patterns. The space was hidden behind a set of turning cogs, and was just large enough for her crouched form to fit in.

Fury sunk down as close as he could get.

"Surprised Stark didn't try and change this."  
"He's not totally opposed to the smell of oil and grease." Cat replied. The tension was still present in her voice.

"You think I should testify don't you?"  
"Ain't my call." Nick replied, chewing on his unlit cigar.  
"But you think I should."

Nick shrugged.

"Do you remember, Jacque Christian?"  
"The concentration camp survivor who watched his lover torn apart by German shepherds Course I do."  
"Do you remember what you said to him, when he said he couldn't testify at Nuremberg?"

"That by refusing to testify, he condemned his lover to a second death. That of forgetting."

Nick nodded. She had come out a little of the hole.

"There ain't all that many of you left." He said softly. "You've gotta protect the next ones."

She had come out of the gap now, but she made no move to come near him. Instead she wandered over to the porthole and stood gazing out of the window.

" "L_ook down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget._"" She whispered quietly. She nodded softly.

"I'll do it."  
"I let them know-"

"NO!" the word was said in the same way as early, but with less force. "I want to talk to the others first."  
Nick smiled.

"That's good." He said. "'cos there's an ex-Russian Assassin creating havoc on the command deck."

With what might have been a smile, Cat followed him out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The forest looked peaceful, as Nightcrawler teleported in. The sun was slipping though the trees, dying the whole ground green. The light also fell on the mutant crouched by the lake, who looked anything but peaceful.

"Get lost Elf! I'm fine."  
"That is evidently a lie my friend." Kurt said, slowly making his way over. He paused uncertain of how to brooch the subject.

"Doc Samson called." He said slowly, "and told us what happened?"  
He looked at the mutant for a response, but got none.

"It must have been a shock."

"Never thought it'd happen. Never thought I'd need it either."

"You are needed," Nightcrawler agreed, nodding, "but do you want to?"

"No!" the answer was quick and full of the pain and terror that Kurt had only heard in his voice after a nightmare. "But I think I have to. Those people. They shouldn't be free to ..."

His voice trailed off.

Kurt nodded.

"So, I guess I'll do it."

Kurt nodded.

"There was another call after Doc. Samson. Fräulein Cat. She asked you to meet her. Said you'd know where."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 2

"I'm going to testify."  
Logan had to give Cat credit; she'd been patient, allowing them all to get their orders, before bursting out. Her fingers were wrapped, tightly around James Buchan Barnes hand, and as she looked at the faces of her former team-mates, they dug in tighter.

"I'm not asking the rest of you to, and believe me I don't want. But I think I have to." She gazed down into the coffee cup, that she had ordered, despite the fact that she never drank the stuff.

"For the ones who didn't make it out." She looked up, gazing at the faces who sat opposite her. Wolverine, Maverick, Jon Wraith. She knew she didn't need their approval, but she couldn't help hoping that.

"I'm testifying as well." Wraith voice was calm, but his hands shook.

"The project has come back too many times. With the new legalisation we have to shut it down."

"Always saw you as a good soldier Wraith." Maverick voice was heavy. "Never thought you'd go against the government."  
"We've all changed." Wraith said. Logan broke in before the discussion could get more heated.

"I'll be speaking too." All three turned to face him. Wraith and Maverick's faces were shocked, but Cat's held relief. James merely took a sip of coffee.

"How 'bout you North?" he asked quietly, hoping they wouldn't press him on his reasons. "Unite the team?"  
Maverick shook his head.

"Nien." He said softly. "I am sorry, but it is not my fight anymore. I have my own battles."

There was silence as the mutants regarded their teammate, and then nodded. They all understood where he was coming from. With a flourish Maverick produced some bills from his pocket.

"I wish you every success." He said, laying the money down to cover his share. "But it is not a part of my world anymore. And the sooner I accept that the better." He turned and walked away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marie Curie was not the lawyer who had brought them news of weapon X capture. She was however the lawyer who would bring them to trial. Or at least that was what she told them as they sat in the office. Her accent was New Orleans and as thick as gumbo. She began the usual preamble about the trial, when Cat interrupted.

"How long?"  
"The date for the trial is on the paper's I sent you Cherie; it's two weeks from today-"

"No. I don't mean that." Cat asked, "I mean how long it is till it's over? How long is the trial going to last?"  
"Why you want to know that?" Marie asked,

"Because," Cat said forcible. "I want to know how long till this is over. Till I can resume my own life." Her voice sounded vaguely hysterical, causing both Wolverine and Wraith to look at her strangely. Her hands gripped James's tightly.  
"To put it bluntly, Ms Curie, I'll be grateful if I never ever hear the words Weapon X in my life." She said calmer.

"I think that goes for all of us." Wraith said softly.

"Yeah." Logan said. "But I'm not an optimist."

Cat nodded.

"So," Cat continued, taking a deep breath. "I'd personally be grateful, if you skip the preamble, and just tell us what we need to do. Cos I just want to get this over with." Her face seemed to convince Marie as she nodded.

"O.K. Cherie." She made her way and sat down behind her desk and withdrew a pile of papers. "The trial is fixed for the 16th of this month, as I told you. There are four scientists, against whom you'll be testifying. Beside Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes, they're also charged with the murder of Gerard Pitts -"

"Who?" asked James

"Mastodon." Cat said shortly. "He died when the age suppression factor given to him by the project when haywire."

"They should be on trial for other's deaths." Wolverine growled  
"there covered in the crimes against humanity, "Marie began, but Cat interrupted her.

"That's not what he meant." She said. Turning to face Wolverine she continued. "That would strike too close to the truth. We have to make the most of what we can get. Relish in the small victories." She leant over, and placed a hand on his shoulder

"We didn't think we'd get this much." She said softly. "Let's not screw this up.

He nodded and Marie continued to run through protocol.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to Wolvster

Author's Note: I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to Wolvster. Her wonderful story, Horror Vacuum inspired this, a fact that I should have acknowledged sooner. I had sought her permission to use the idea, but received no response, so I thought she had left . She pointed out that part of the previous version of this chapter resembled, unintentionally, part of her story. I have corrected this and can only offer my soundest apologizes to her, and hope she will continue to read and enjoy this story along with many others. I would also like to thank her. This chapter was written quickly so that I could get the next chapter down before it vanished from my head, and I wasn't really happy with the ending. The new version has a much better ending, in my opinion.

Chapter 3

"You got everything?" Cat asked, looking up at Logan, as she stood nervously in the doorway. Logan grabbed a small black duffle bag and nodded. Nick had arranged for them to stay in a SHIELD safe house during the duration of the trial, despite protests from the X-Men. Logan hadn't protested. If this thing drove him over the edge, the last thing he wanted was to be here, where innocents could get hurt.

The X-Men on the other hand, had. Indeed the entire team was standing in the doorway.

Flashman turned to look at the two, standing uncomfortably together.

"Get in the car!" he had no power to order them, but in a miracle both obeyed. As soon as they were out of the house, Flashman faced the X-Men.

"You know how many trials have been brought for Mutant Experimentation?" he asked calmly.

"Three." The reply came from the Africa American woman introduced as Storm. "Including this one."  
Flashman nodded.

"First one fell through due to lack of evidence. Second one fell through because..." she fell silent.

"Second fell through because Some SHIELD telepaths got lose on the victims in an attempt to help. Lawyers argued that it couldn't be proven what they done while they mess around." Flashman finished. He gazed back at them. "No offence meant, but I mean to lick these Bastards. And I don't intend to let anything stand in the way." He gazed especially at Charles Xavier and Emma Frost, "with the X-Men record, if he stays here we've got no chance."  
"And supposing he goes bezerker?" demanded Emma, stepping forward. "Attacks them in open court? What then?"

Flashman's brown eyes flew a warning at her blue ones. "Don't worry. We've got it covered."  
He turned and walked out the door. "You'll have your "little killing machine" back in a couple of months, physically unharmed."  
"And what about mentally?" Kitty Pryde asked. Flashman froze for a moment, framed in the door.

"I never make promises I can't keep my dear." He replied.

* * *

It gave Cat a small amount of satisfaction to see that Wraith was nervous. Admittedly she was too, but she credited her self that she was doing a better job of hiding it. Wraith's skin was the color of white coffee, and Marie had already asked him five times if he's sure about this.  
Cat could have given her the answer to that.

None of them were sure about this. None of them wanted to do this. They were here, because if they were, it would keep happening. Governments would keep doing this. If they got these guys, maybe the governments would be able to find fewer guys willing to ignore their humanity.

But she'd lived too long to believe that.

This is important, to stop the experimentation that goes on illegally. The sad fact was that legally or illegally, they were the only survivors in a fit state to testify.

Fury searched, even going so far as to forgive Stark to get a few more eyes and ears out. Nothing. Or to be more exact no one who could give evidence.

She lifted, as the sounds of some familiar footsteps came towards them, and stared.

"Nicolas Joseph Fury. What, in heaven's name, are you wearing?"

The British accent in her voice was laughably strong, and it was that which made the others turn their heads and stare. Nick Fury stood dressed in a smart suit, and what possibly was more surprising, without a cigar clamped between his teeth. Behind him stood Doc Samson, his green hair pulled back in a pony tail, but none of them even noticed him.

"I never expected to see you out of that uniform before your retirement, Nicolas."

The joke was appalling, but they all laughed, mainly to try and relieve their nerves. Luckily Fury, an intelligence agent, like themselves, understood and shared their nerves.

"Ah well, after everything that's happened, had to send it to the cleaners."

Fury looked incredibly uncomfortable, and he wasn't the only one.

The Jury consultant, that Marie had hired, had advised that Logan should wear a suit to make himself appear more trustworthy. Logan had disagreed, arguing that he never trusted anyone wearing suit. The consultant, who was wearing a grey Louis Voton suit, had seemed offended that this, but Wraith had backed her up. Cat had suggested that as Logan was a retired Captain in the Canadian Military, he could wear formal uniform. Logan had rejected this even more out of hand, so he now stood looking thoroughly uncomfortably in a monkey suit.

"Advantage of still been active." Cat said, grinning, "I just wear formal uniform."

"Give us a twirl." Fury growled. "Bin a while since I saw you in a skirt."

Cat shrugged, spinning on the spot. "Tradition. Won't let girls wear trousers."

"Well," Wraith said, glancing at the other three, trying to gauge how far he could push it. "I got to say I prefer your ordinary uniform, Cat."  
"Really?" Cat said, grinning knowingly. "Why?"

"Better view!" he ducked as James threw a punch, deliberately designed (he hoped) to miss at him.

Doc Samson stood next to Marie and her team, regarding the scene with amazement.

"It surprises you, doctor?" he hadn't heard Flashman's footsteps, but suddenly the man was standing at his elbow. He turned to look at him.

Henry Flashman was tall, over six foot, with silver hair and eyes that revealed nothing. His tone was warm and amused, but neither of those emotions were on his face.

He nodded. Flashman raised an eyebrow.

"Really doctor? I had heard you had done work for SHIELD. Did you never while there observe the gallows' humor before a mission?"

"Of course. But this isn't a mission." Flashman's brown eyes flicked over him.

"Says who?"

He then turned his attention to Marie and her team.

"A big day today." He observed, casually and vaguely warmly. "A career making trial one might say."

"That suppose to mean something to me Cher?" Marie attempted to look tough, but it was obvious that the emotionless eyes were intimidating her.

"Yes." Flashman's eyes were blazing and his voice had dropped. "This trial is probably going to come closer than anyone ever has to destroying them. Logan is my friend. Cat is my friend. James is my friend. Hurt them more than is absolutely necessary, treat them like some…" he struggled for words. "Circus freak, do anything to make this experience anymore unbearable for them, and I will kill you."

Marie Curie had received a lot of death threats in her time. This was the first time she believed it. As Flashman straightened up, she dared to ask,

"What about Wraith?"

Flashman's face creased.

"I couldn't' give a dam about Wraith." He walked away from her and gently touched Cat's shoulder.

"They're coming."

Cat remembered reading that at Numberg many had been disappointed, by the ordinariness of those on Trial. She had no idea why. A life time in the field had taught her that the worst of evil was in the ordinary and, that the true monsters had the face of angels.

This was true in this case.

There were four of them, accompanied by their solicitors, three men and one woman. All were dressed smartly, proving (Cat thought) Wolverine's views on those in suits. The woman's hair was dyed with a blue rinse. One of the men no longer had any hair and the other two boasted locks of silver. She heard, as though from a great distance, Wrath grabbing Marie and protesting that there is some mistake, that these couldn't be the same people. Heard Flashman's voice from similar distance, calmly reminding him of the age suppression factor. Could see, but dimly, Marie and Samson confusion, but Nick's Clarity. He understood. The monsters were always the same age in your nightmares.

But more than that, more overwhelming, was their scents. No longer mixed with blood and chemicals and fear, but there and somehow more powerful than it had ever seemed, more powerful than she had expected. She suddenly turned and ran.

* * *

"Shhh. Shhhh. It's alright. It's o.k." the voice was male, clearly American with just a hint of a Russian accent, and infinitely welcome. She rolled back, letting the cold of the pottery calm her. A clean well folded handkerchief was handed to her, and she dabbed at her mouth.

"Shite."  
"No." James Buchan Barnes said, massacring the small of her back with one hand. "Sick."  
She smiled weakly at the joke.

"I feel like such an idiot."  
"Why?"  
She lifted her eyes and looked at him with complete and utter incredulous expression on her face.

"I threw up!"

"Very neatly." He said, glancing at the basin of the toilet. At her expression, his face fell.  
"Look. You're facing your nightmares. Most people never have the courage to do that." He hugged her. "You're not invincible you know. No one is."

"You weren't this affected when you fought Luskin. You knick his ass."  
"And got it handed right back to me." He replied. "Look, this is totally different."  
"How?"  
"Well, for one I was extremely mad." She nodded slightly conceding the point. "For another I was fighting him. Not facing him in open court. And for a third…"

He paused uncertain.

"Luskin didn't create me. Karpov or Zemo did, and they're both beyond my reach. Had it been them…" he trailed off. "I don't know what I would have done."

She shifted up and snuggled into him.

"That's the first honest thing you've said."

He shrugged.  
"Think you can face them."  
She nodded and muttered something.

"What did you say?"  
"Just remembering what a Commandant told me, the first time I was taken around a concentration Camp. After about 10 minutes, you don't smell anything at all."

* * *

Nick knew Logan well enough to let the silence remain. The mutant had stormed off, at almost the exact same second that Cat had run for the bathroom. The kid had gone after her, while he had followed Logan.

They sat on a bench in the warm September air, while Logan sat rubbing his face with his hands. Surprisingly it was Logan who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry."  
"For what?"  
"Back there."  
Baffled the Director of SHIELD turned to look at him.

"You didn't do anything."

The feral man stared at him for a moment, probably testing his honesty. He paused.

"You're sure?"  
Nick nodded.

"Those lousy bastards entered, Wraith started protesting. Cat ran to be sick and you stormed off. That's all."

He nodded. Nick sighed, suddenly wishing he knew what to say. He couldn't say it would be alright, because they both knew it was a lie. He couldn't ask how the mutant was feeling, as he was fairly sure he knew the answer.

Instead he reached into his jacket.

"Cigar?"

Logan shook his head. They sat in silence, Nick smoking and running through reassuring phrases, each sounding more worthless than the last in his head, before a young bailiff came looking for them.

"Excuse me sirs."

Two pairs of blue eyes rested on him, making him look like he wanted to wet himself.  
"They're waiting for you."

Logan got to his feet, and Nick made to follow him.

"Sorry Sir… but it's illegal to smoke in any public building in this state."

Fury drew himself up to his full height, so that he towered over the young officer, who by some miracle managed not to cower under the fierce eyes, as he deliberately took another drag on the cigar. He opened his mouth to give the kid hell, then he saw Logan.

The mutant wasn't slumped, or even seeming bothered by the experience. The mask was back on.

But there was something, nothing definite, but something that both an ex boxer and a secret agent recognized. The slight stiffness and the tension of a man preparing to take a blow, knowing it would hurt and expecting it to knock him out.  
Slowly and deliberately, Fury dropped the cigar, and ground the stub under his heel, his eyes never leaving the bailiff's face. The Kid gulped.

" Thank you. sir."

As he stepped up to join Logan, Fury shook his head.

Jesus. This must be affecting him worse than he thought.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter is dedicated to Wolvster, in the hopes she'll forgive me and not accuse me of plagiarism again

This chapter is dedicated to Wolvster, in the hopes she'll forgive me and not accuse me of plagiarism again. Any mistakes in the court system, well I'm British, so it's similar, but not the same.

Chapter 4

Dr Hammond was a veteran. 14 years in the military, nearly 20 in the RMCP, and bordering on 10 with Department H. His qualifications and experience had evidently impressed jury, who regarded him with favor, as Marie Curie began her questioning of dates.

"Now Dr Hallmond, will you please tell us about the events of the 10th of March 1973?"

The oldish man in the dock nodded.

"It was a fairly ordinary day until nine thirty"  
"what you mean by a "fairly ordinary day doctor? Can you describe that for us?"  
As Dr Hallmond went through the events of the day, James leant across and whispered.

"Why she's doing this?"

"Proving there's nothing to hide." Flashman replied, his lips barely moving.

"I'd shut up and was at home when at nine thirty I got a call from Eliza Fraser. She and her husband ran the local library. Her grandson had been injured. Could I come around and take a look. Of course I said yes."

There were several nods of approval from the jury.

"The kid, he was about 12, had got caught in an illegal trap. He'd been freed, but his ankle was twisted, and there was a nasty wound. I treated him and asked him for his story."  
"Objection."  
"Sustained." The judge replied. "If we want the grandson story we will ask for it."

"With respect your honor the grandson is on my list of witnesses."  
"then we will hear from him at the correct time Counselor."

Marie returned to her witness.

"After he'd told you his story, what happened?"  
"Well, Bob Fraser, Eliza's son took me aside. He'd heard the kid's story too and had gone looking for his son's rescuer. He'd found it, but he wanted me to have a look."

"And what had he found?"

Dr Hallmond licked his lips.

"Your honor, I served in World War 2. I aided in the liberation of concentration camps and Jap POW camps. But I'd never seen anything as bad as what I saw in their back room that night."  
"What did you see?"  
"I don't know how to describe it. It was a hominid, about 5'10". If I'd been asked to guess at that point, I would have said it was female." He shook his head. "I'd seen more flesh on skeletons. I could literally see the skull beneath the skin. She was filthy. Bob, who knew the area better than I did, estimated that shed been out in the elements for about 2 weeks, which I told him would be a miracle." He swallowed. "She had green eyes, but they were dull and unfocused. She seemed aware of Bob and I being there, but I don't think she understood.

"Bob was in the Mounties, he'd taken some pictures of the area where he found her, and her condition at that point. He took some more while I tried to clean her up."  
"These pictures, your honor are prosecution exhibit A through O, along with Dr Hallmond's report on the subject."

The pictures were passed out to the jury. Glancing at them, Marie could understand Dr Hallmond's reluctance to classify the figure as human.

It was a skeleton, with wisps' of dull, thin brown hair. The skin was black with earth. There were red places, though whether through rust or blood she wasn't sure. The skeleton lay on a cloth that might have been a black coat at some point. In one photo, exhibit D, the victim was looking straight at them, but it was a sense of looking not at, but though them, like a slightly creepy doll.

Gathering her strength, she turned back to Dr Hallmond.

"Dr Hallmond, will you please tell the jury what happened next?"  
"We attempted to clean her up. We used a solution of diluted surgical alcohol, and tea tree oil."  
"Excuse me?" the judge's face was confused.

"A mild antiseptic, your honor. Care had to be taken, as in some places, the dirt was all that holding the skin together. As we cleaned, a…horrific picture emerged. The skin had given away to…open sores. I found either factures or evidence of healed factures of virtually every bone. Worst, however, were the probes."  
"Prosecution exhibit P, your honor. The probes removed from the victim."

An image of the human body was projected onto a screen and Dr Hallmond pointed out the areas where he had found the probes.

Flashman repressed a shiver at the site of them. He glanced down the line, to see how Cat was holding up. She was sitting stock-still, her eyes fixed ahead. She appeared calm, but Flashman knew her well enough to read the signs of her terror.

The tension coming off Nick Fury however was huge, and he seemed to be fighting the desire to strangle the defendants. If he had attempted it, Flashman would have helped him.

"Now, these probes," Marie was holding one of the sealed evidence bags. "What are they?"

Dr Hallmond shrugged.

"If I had to guess, I'd say they were medical of some description, though for what beats me." He paused. "The manner in which they were inserted into the skin, also leads me to suspect that they were medical."  
"What do you mean?"  
"They were inserted very neatly, your honor. In some cases there was no way it could have been done by a lay man."

"So," Marie was standing by the Jury box. "You're saying that the person who inserted these probes." She held the bag aloft.  
"Must have been a Doctor."

Dr Hallmond paused.

"I'd say they'd have to be a qualified medic." He said slowly. "Possibly even more qualified than me. But, Your Honor, I'll never dignify the butchers who did that," he indicated the photos. "With the title of Doctor."  
There was an uproar in court, with the defense lawyer screaming, for the last remark to be stricken from the record, and the Judge agreeing and angrily informing the witness to "merely give his evidence, and not to comment on it."

Marie began again.

"As you cleaned up the victim, did you find anything beside the probes."  
"Yes your honor. We found a set of military dog tags. They were around her neck, literally cutting the skin it was that thin. I removed them, and Bob faxed the number on them to Headquarters, along with the fingerprints of the victim."

He shook his head. "I honestly didn't think she'd make it through the night. I asked Eliza for some sugared water, and I dabbed it around her lips. While we'd cleaned her, even when we were around the edges of the wounds and had to be hurting her, she never acknowledged it. This time, when the water touched her lips, she attempted to lick it. Her tongue." He shook his head. "It was as thin as supermarket ham, and the color of Beef jerky." He was shaking now. "I told Eliza and her family to keep doing that every 2 hours and that I'd call round the next morning. I took blood and other fluids for testing, because I honestly thought I'd be told she'd died in the night."

"But she didn't?"

"No." Dr Hallmond admitted. "She made it through the night. It was honestly incredible. This girl, who I'd reckoned wouldn't last the night. But by the end of the month, she was on solid food. Just biscuits pounded soft in milk, but still an amazing experience."  
"Could she speak?"  
"no." he shook his head. "No, it was nearly 2 months before she managed to speak."  
"What did she say?"  
"Thank you."

"It was nearly 2 weeks after that, before we got a name out her, by which time Ottawa and London had being in touch." He grinned slightly at the memory of his shock. "Turned out we'd found a flipping Secret Agent who'd been missing for nearly 2 years. They came, and took her away."

"Thank you, Dr Hallmond. Now we move to the 21st of April of the same year."  
Dr Hallmond nodded.

"That was a bit more reasonable, through none the less strange. I was serving up at Uranium City near Buffalo woods. A Dr James Hudson and some government types from Department H, contacted me. Seems he and his wife had been on Honeymoon up in there, and found a naked "Wildman." They wanted me to accompany them back." He consulted some notes. "We reached the cabin at approximately ten o'clock the following morning, the delay caused by a bad blizzard. Mrs. Hudson was thankfully alright."  
"What about the Wildman?"

"Physically he seemed in pretty good shape for someone who'd been wandering butt Naked in the middle of winter. And for someone who'd been shot." He added, getting a small laugh from the jury, who were undoubtedly relieved that they didn't have to look at more of those horrific photos.

"Mentally, however, he couldn't seem to remember anything before waking up there, except the name Logan." He shook his head. "Based on his behavior, I was forced to presume that he had experienced severe trauma."  
The defense rose to object and the witness was reminded again, not to speculate.

"I took a blood sample for him, to determine whether there was any physiological cause for his condition such as drugs."

"Now, Dr Hallmond, please think very carefully about this. Did you, or did you not compare these two blood samples?"  
"Yes I did."  
"Why?"

"Two stranger, both found naked within a 50 mile radius of each other, within a couple of months of each other," he shook his head. "It seemed too bigger coincidence, which increased when I tested the blood."  
"What did you find?"

"Thorazine, Pheno-B and trace amounts of adamantium, but that wasn't what was interesting."

He paused slightly.  
"Both blood samples showed unusual readings in blood glucose, white blood cell count and Hormone levels especially endorphins and myostatin ."  
"Unusual how?"

Dr Hallmond gazed at the judge.

"To be perfectly frank, your honor, if I got a patient with the readings I got from those two, if I wasn't taking another sample, I'd be firing lab technicians. They were completely outside the normal range."

Marie nodded.

"Initially, I thought I'd made an error or that the environment had introduced some unknown contaminate. So I redid the test. The results were the same."  
"Now, Dr Hallmond, in your opinion, what caused this?"  
Dr Hallmond paused.  
"Initially I thought it might be genetic, but when I examined the basic blood groups, I realized that if they were related, then Mendel got it wrong."  
"Can you explain that?"  
"The first Victim was A Positive. The Second was O negative. There were other differences, that made it impossible for them to be related, but that was the main one."

He shrugged.  
"My best guess is that someone was messing about with them, experimenting at a very advanced level."

One of the male sitting at the defense table had the grace to look guilty.  
"With their permission?"  
The doctor met the lawyer's eyes.  
"They said not."

TBC

Nice reviews make me update sooner, so hit that button and let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing, but nice reviews can help me update sooner.

Chapter 5

"Ah know it's hard to believe, but we had a good day today."

"But as your opposite number pointed out, we proved nothing, except that the experiments took place. We didn't prove who was responsible." Cat sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't mean to rain on your Parade, Ms. Curie, but I'm realist about this. We've dug the trench, but we haven't even laid the foundations for a conviction."

"Maybe that's true chere." Marie said, yanking on her coat, as she prepared to leave the SHIELD safe house. "But it'll take a lot to get those pictures out of the Jury's mind."

She left.

"Why," Cat asked, wandering over to the kitchen table, where a partly chopped carrot lay, "doesn't that make me feel any better?"

"Simple." Wraith said, sitting at the table, reading a file. "You're too British. You want both sides to have a sporting chance and to play fairly."  
"I'm a British intelligence agent."  
"That doesn't make a difference. Look," wraith said, focusing completely on her. "You were never happy with some of the more…sensitive"  
"Dirty." Cat declared, scrapping the carrots into the pot.

"Of our missions. You want to beat these people, but you want to do it in a way that no one can ever say we made a mistake."

"Chances of me getting that. Nil."  
"Don't be so sure." Wraith observed, returning to the file. "Let's just see what happens huh?"  
Cat stared at him, as did Wolverine and James.

"What do ya know Wraith?" Wolverine growled.

Wraith shrugged.

"Just that a father will do a lot for his daughter."

He looked up and added.  
"Now are we going to eat?"  
Logan got the plates, Wraith got the cutlery, Cat stirred the pot and Bucky turned on the radio.  
"It's Not Lord Haw Haw, but it'll do."  
"Lord who?" **Leonard **couldn't help asking.

"Haw Haw." Cat said, tasting the stew. "He was an allied Nazi broadcaster, during the war. Basically preached that Britain was going to lose the war, so we should just give up. Quite a good broadcaster, but he spoke with an upper class English accent, so some genius of Journalist nicknamed him Lord Haw Haw." She smiled. "That made him a figure of fun and so reduced his power. Think his real name was William Joyce or something like."  
"What happened to him?"  
"Nick Fury's growl came, as he stepped over the threshold. "Despite been American."  
"Held a British passport when he started broadcasting his sedition, therefore he was ours!" Cat said, reaching for plates and beginning to dish up. "Anyway, would you guys have handled it any differently?"

The meal was enjoyable, through Leonard couldn't help noticing that, while no mention was made of the trial, equally no mention was made of the past. Bucky and Logan discussed the Harley cup, and got into a fairly heated debate about Montreal's chances. Cat and Nick discussed a report on a possibly sighting of the Red Skull, then drew Logan into a conversation about the X men's move to San Francisco. Wraith ate in silence.

The conversation, though lively, left forced, and Leonard was relieved when Nick said that they would leave once the washing up was done.

He was surprised, however, when Nick Fury, head of SHIELD, volunteered to do the washing up with Cat.

And was even more surprised, that despite almost certainly going into the witness box the next day, Cat looked almost happy when they'd finished.

* * *

"I never said that."  
"But it was the opinion of your superiors."

Cat gave Maria a wry smile.

"At the time, mutants weren't well known about. The idea of thousands of them, or whole teams of them, was at the time laughable."

"And, viewed by your superiors as a sign of paranoia."

Cat shrugged.

"Paranoia kept you alive in the intelligence game. The only problem was when it got too much."  
"She's doing extra ordinarily well." Dr Samson muttered, leaning into Fury. Flashman, sitting next to him grinned.

"Cat's been giving evidence since she was tiny. Her mother was a prostitute and she was raised in a brothel." He shrugged. "She's an old hand at this. It's what's next, that's got me worried."  
"You discovered that Agent Logan was missing when?"

"The twentieth of September. I was able to follow his trail to a gin mill, but no one remembered seeing him after that." She shrugged. "I reported the disappearance to the police, but they were reluctant to pursue it." She sighed.

"On the 30th, I received a call, telling me someone had seen what had happened, and they wanted to talk to me. It was an old wino who said that he seen three guys grab Logan." She sighed. "I wished I'd believed him."

"It was that night. I came home to my apartment. There were three men waiting for me."

Cat was trembling.

"I try to fight. But they had a stun. I took two, maybe three hits, I don't remember, but they hit me, and I passed out."

She swallowed.  
"When I came round, everything had changed."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I was in some kind of tank. It was filled with liquid, I think it was red, but it could have been green."

Her breathing was becoming rapid, both Flashman and Fury was leaning forward, seemingly to restrain the other.

"There were a lot of noises. Screams of pain, medical noises, sounds of guns, animals' noises. I don't know how many people were there, a lot I think."

Her voice was soft, but the court room was quiet, so every word could be heard.

"I'd no idea where I was or how long I'd been out." She shivered. "When they found me, they told me it had only been two years, but in that pit it felt like forever."

Tears, an unusual sight on Cat's face fell down her cheek. Out of the corner of his eye Leonard could see the defense rising to suggest a few moments recess for the witness to collect herself, but Cat was thundering on.

"They were taking about us. Kept using codenames, never names, never even pronouns. We were just its." She shook her head. "I hadn't heard that level of dehumanization since the Nazis."

Noticing the surprise on Leonard face, Flashman leant in.

"Wildcat," he said, using for the first time her full codename, "was born in 1929. She's got a healing factor, similar to Wolverine's."

He then turned his attention back to the trial.

He was forced to admit that as good a witness as Cat was, Maria was an excellent lawyer. She knew when to lead, and when to keep silent, and how to impart enough information to keep the jury against the defendants.

He stole a glance at the figure in the witness box. Cat was holding her own, but barely. He glanced down at his watch.

By his calculations, she had about a minute more of questions, then they would show the tape.

The questions were routine. Designed to prove that the government hadn't had anything to do with it.

Cat's response was simple.

"I don't know who was responsible, or where the money was coming from. I just knew they kept hurting us."

The jury definitely liked her. One of the older women on was leaning forward as though she wanted to comfort her.

The judge had now asked if the witness would like a few minutes to collect herself. Cat shook her head and told the judge that if she stopped, she wouldn't be able to finish.

Maria took the opportunity to show the tape.

"Prosecution exhibit Q, your honor. Security tape dated 20th May 1973."

She inserted the tape and pressed play.

A room from a nightmare or a horror movie came into view.

It showed a lab, though whether the room was justified use of that term was another matter, lit by artificial lighting. A table lay in the middle, with a human form secured to it. Figures moved around the table, hooded and gowned like medieval torturers. One of them briefly moved in front of the camera. Maria paused it.

"Can you identify this man?"

Cat nodded, slowly.

"Dr Abraham Cornelius. He was a doctor on the run from the FBI, over charges that he killed his wife and infant son. The papers had been full of it for weeks; it was thought he'd fled abroad."

Maria pressed play again.

Another doctor came to face the camera. He was handing a probe over. The figure gave a soft moan.

"Dear god, she's coming too." A woman's voice came from off screen.

"Don't get jumpy, Mari." The man who was handing the probe over was speaking. "She has to be conscious; else we wouldn't be able to do this."

"So it can feel what you're doing." The woman's voice was surprised.

"Partly yeah."

An animal moan escaped, and the figures head rolled to face the camera. It was recognizable, despite the gore leaking over it, as Cat.

"Maybe a little too aware." Dr Cornelius was saying. "2 millimeters of Pheno B

The woman was struggling weakly against her bonds, and suddenly she vomited, green bile mixing with red blood that was leaking from her lips.

"Sensory cortex is overloaded." The woman's voice came again.

"Off the chart pain!" The man's voice was surprised. "At least, she still now. Attaching probe 18B."

The tape faded to black.

"Had you ever seen the man in the tape before?" asked Maria.

Cat shook her head.

"no. no. I hadn't."

"Can you see them in court today?"

Cat nodded. And her finger lifted to point her finger at the man with the long silver hair.

"Let the record show that the witness indentified Marcus Korper as the man on the tape."  
She paused for dramatic effect.

"And the woman?"

The finger moved to the woman with a blue rinse.

"The witness identified Marie Humano as the woman shown on the tape."

She paused for a moment, before speaking.

"No further questions."

"Your witness." The judge said.

As though from a long distance, she heard the defense lawyer say,

"No questions your honor."

"You may step down." The judge's voice sounded like it came from a horror movie.

Cat stood up, and fainted.


	6. Chapter 6

I own nothing. I live in the UK, so this story probably won't follow Weapon X First Class, so if I wander away from the story view it as AU.

Chapter 6

"Get her feet up." They had carried her from the court into the lawyer's chambers. The blood was pouring from her head, and she was still as pale as snow.

James' hand gripped Cat's limp one, his eyes never leaving her face.

Maria had gone in search of the court first aider, but she admitted it would probably take her sometime as there had been for a stabbing in court 3. Flashman help Logan to maneuver Cat's legs up onto the sofa, while trying to make sure that the skirt didn't fall up.

The door was pushed open and, an man entered.

"you'd better get out of here, Strange." Wolverine growled, but the dark haired man smiled.

"before I was master of the mystic arts, Logan, I was a doctor of medicine."

He knelt down next to Cat and ran his fingers over her head.

"umm. Fractured skull. Normally I'd been concerned, but I take it, with Cat…"

He trailed off and Flashman nodded.

"she heals pretty fast."  
Strange nodded.

"the original source of the problem was probably low blood sugar. Once she comes around, get her to eat something sugary."

He checked the carotid pulse.

"she'll be coming round soon."

As if to prove the point, Cat groaned.

"umm. What hit me?"

"the witness box." Flashman said, grinning. "the doctor thinks you fractured your skull."

Cat moved her hand up, and made a noise of agreement.

"fracture between the pariet and the occipital. Bone's already knitting together. Ahh!" her fingers' tightened around James's. her eyes fluttered, as she sunk into consciousness, she muttered,

"did I do good?"

Wolverine's head moved up and down.

"yeah. You did very good, kid."

* * *

"you know," wraith said, as he stood over the hob. "the doctor did tell you to rest."

"I'm fine." Cat declared, covering the distance between the table and kitchen counter. "I'd be better if you let me cook."

Wraith snorted.

"2 hours ago you had a fractured skull. You are not fine and you're not cooking."  
Cat shook her head, impatiently.

"why didn't they have any questions?"

"hate to break it to you," Wraith said, with a dry smile, "but you're popular with the jury."

Cat snorted.

"seriously. Those pictures, your service record, it all combines to make you sympathetic to the jury."

"my service record isn't that brilliant."  
"you've won a flipping Victoria cross."  
"I was recommended for a Victoria cross." Cat corrected him, still pacing. " the recommendation was never taken up."

"the point still stands." Wraith said. He flung some herbs in the pot. "anyway there wasn't a lot they could ask."  
Cat spun on the spot.

"My account was vague at best. They didn't ask me about the end of weapon X, barely touched on Wolverine's history of alcohol and drug abuse, didn't even ask about you."

The plate fell to the floor, smashing into a thousand pieces. Jon Wraith gazed at it for a few seconds.

"I think," he said, slowly, "that you might be more useful, shelling peas."

* * *

"really messed up."

"can you blame her?" the voice was British, yet it sounded very different to Flashman's .

Leonard wished he could see more, but it was too dark. Flashman was speaking again.

"think she'd actually have been happier if they attacked her."

A laugh, that sounded scarily like Wolverine's came across the darkness.

"of course she would be. Then she could be on the defensive, deal with it. As it is she has to watch. And from her point of view, that's worse."

The man shifted.

"you sure you weren't followed?"  
Leonard realized that the wind had changed. He slipped away.

* * *

Wolverine sat on the bench, outside the courtroom.

He looked calm, but Cat could recognize the signs that he was unhappy.

His muscles were tense, and his fists were clenched.

Glancing over to the court Usher who was talking with Marie,

"psss." She whispered. Logan lifted his head.  
"here." She reached across the gap between the benches, which had seen so much smaller when she sat down. She dropped it into his out stretched hand.

Logan chortled, regarding the silver dog tags in his hand.

"where did you…?"

"US Military. Never throw anything away."

Logan nodded his thanks as he slipped the tags over head. The court ushers turn his attention back to the benches, as the trial began again.

* * *

"please state your name for the court."  
"James Howlett, but no one's call me that in a long time."  
"what do they call you then?"  
"Logan."

Flashman scanned the court, confirming the presence of his secret weapon.

This, if he was honest, was the one he was worried about. It took a lot to push Cat into a berserk rage, and she had had the court on her side right from square one. Wraith was a good soldier, and they never showed any emotion. James had been Bucky on his side.

While Wolverine had an excellent record and was an Avenger, he was a mutant, and more than that, a member of a team that many saw as illegal. Marie was going to have her work cut out, especially if the defense had access to half the files he did.

His eyes rested briefly on the blond woman sitting a few seats in front of him. American's didn't tend to like people who broke in to the Pentagon, no matter how noble your reasons.

Next to the blond woman was an African American woman, with white hair. Flashman recognized her, but it took him a couple of moments to remember her name. Ororo Munroe.

He smiled. Rumors said that she was pretty special to Logan. Maybe Marie wouldn't have a such a hard time after all.

Then he glanced at the defense table, recognizing the files piled up there. On second thoughts, she probably would.

"you give the year of your birth as 1887, is that right?"

"yeah." The Canadian was tense.

"well, may I say you look excellent for your age. How do you explain that?"  
"good genes."

This got a laugh from the jury and Marie moved around, the table smiling.

"you are a registered Mutant." She said.

From what Cat had said, or hadn't said more accurately, it was lucky she hadn't turned it in to a question.

Wolverine made a noise that might have been agreement.

"can you tell us about the events of the 17th September 1971?"

"why?" there was anger in his voice. Attack is the best form of defense, Flashman remembered, though he doubted its effectiveness in this case.

"because according to the police report, that's the last time anyone saw you until 1973!" Maria gave as good as she got, which pleased Flashman. Only way to handle wolverine.

The mutant sighed.

"I was drinking in a gin mill up near the Yukon. I went out of there and was heading to my car."  
"which was?"

"A lotus Seven." There was a sort of smile on the mutant's face. " a real classic."

Good trick. Flashman thought, watching the smiles flit across the faces of members' of the jury. They were starting to like this strange man.

"I was heading out to it, just got in it, when, behind me, someone called my name."

Maria nodded encouragingly.

"I turned around, then…" he was shaking his head. "it's weird. I remember a fight, been hit with a pistol, but more than that…" he shook his head.

"next thing I remember I was in a tank. It was green. There was pain."

Poor devil. Flashman thought. To a layman there would be no obvious signs of pain, but Flashman who'd known him for years, it was obvious that he was under a great deal of stress.

Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder. Turning he saw a SHIELD agent, little more than a boy, with a note in his hand.

"she asked me to give you this."

The note said in Cat's sharp scrawl,

"stop this now, or I will."

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

I own nothing, but Nice reviews make me write faster. The scene Wolverine describes is taken from Wolverine The End 3 and 4.

Chapter 7

"This had better be good, kid." Fury growled, as he pushed open the door of Maria's officer. Cat, sitting on the desk, inclined her head at a figure lying on the couch.

From where he was standing, Nick could see he had a broken wrist, a fractured Humorous and there were bruises already developing around his throat. He glanced briefly to where James stood, supporting the wall. The former soviet assassin gave him an innocent look that he didn't believe.

Cat chucked the small item she was holding at him.

"That code look familiar?"

The combinations of letters and numerals did. He'd seen them before. He lifted his head.

"You find this on him?"

Cat nodded.

"Idiot forgot to take it out of his pocket when he went through the scanner. Set off the alarms." She shrugged, "didn't like the way he looked."

"Cuse me Cher, but someone needs to fill me in." Maria was looking at the nonsensical jabbering with concern. With a sigh, the three agents turned to face her.

Fury slowly took a cigarette and lit it.

"Think of them," He said slowly, "as post hypnotic suggestions."  
"They're triggers" Cat said, firmly. "Some audio, some visual, some…" she shifted, uncomfortably "cybernetic."

"If he'd succeeded, he could have set any of us off." James volunteered.

"Send Wolverine, me or even Wraith Berserker, attack the judges or even kill us." Noticing the shock on Fury's face, she shrugged. "We're not sure what these codes do. Most of them I recognize, but there's a couple I don't know about."

"You're telling me that there's a radio receiver in your head?" Maria voice sounded shocked. Cat shrugged.

"Even with Wolverine and me, removing it could kill us." She sighed. "And at the moment, they leave us vulnerable. With the internet on mobile phones…" she trialed off. There was real fear in his eyes, which Why Nick was done what he did.

"Get a blanketing signal around this court. Complete." He said, softly into his communicator. "Nothing gets in. Nothing gets out."  
"Including our own transmissions?" Dum Dum sounded surprised, but Fury's eyes never left the terror in Cat's own.

"Yep." He said.

*

Samson took advantage of the recess to move to sit next to Carol.

He had no idea what had happened, only that several press members were muttering darkly about freedom of the press and Nick Fury was looking more like his name than usual.

He had tried to follow them, but found the entrance to the lawyer chambers very firmly barred by Wraith, meaning that he now understood better Fury's remark that Team X hadn't had a weak spot. He hadn't been the only one to meet with the black teleporter.

He had noticed the same man whose arrival had cheered Cat up so many attempts to slip in, but meet with the same opposition.  
Unlike him, this figure hadn't exactly taking it lying down and had expressed his opinions in no uncertain terms, using some words that Samson hadn't heard from anyone, including Thunderbolt Ross.

The words hadn't been what startled him, as much as the voice. It was the man he had heard talking to Flashman the night before.

"Hey," he said, casually as he could, as the Stranger reentered the court room, his face nearly as dark as Fury's. "Do you know who that is?"  
She craned her neck for a moment, and then replied.

"It looks like… but that's impossible, he'd have to be in his nineties now." Possibly aware of his interest, she blushed. "It looks like a guy Cat used to know. One time when I was intelligence services, we were in Britain and needed a place to crash; she took us to this dive. That Guy looks just like the guy who owned it. What was his name?... John Hall, Hammon, Howl something like that." She shook her head decisively. "But it can't be him. The guy was at least in his fifties in the seventies, and Cat said he all but raised her as a kid, so he must have been even older." She shrugged, uninterested. "Could be his son."

Samson nodded, and turned his attention back to the trial. Maria was doing well. She had got though the initial details of the adamantium bonding process, which understandably were few and far between, skimmed over the first use of the claws and was currently dealing with the experiments conducted afterwards.

"Someone was saying "take a memo: nineteen hundred and thirty hours…subject unresponsive, body temperature at one oh six point seven degrees." Then there's a voice I don't know asking how come I'm still alive. Then the other guy, Cornelius, I think, says that that's been my average body temperature since the infusion and that they suspect my body is trying to reject the implant and fighting my own body defenses at the same time. Then someone else says "Doctor Do you want me to increase the Voltage?" and the guy tells him no, he'll do it himself." He paused swallowing. Samson could see some of the women of the Jury moving forward as though to pet Logan. "The voice I don't know wants to know what they're doing. And another guys tells him that a lot of many is wasted if the subject just conducts electricity like a lightning rod and that they have to test its, my, vulnerability to electrical stimuli. Then the professor guy says "Miss Hines…on my mark."" He shook his head, his slightly long hair flapping like a mane. "I don't know what happened. Next thing I remember is someone saying that "the subject is unresponsive." Think I was drifting in and out at that point, cos all I can remember are fragments. Junk like "pain is a principle of life." "Oh lord…that poor devil…", "there's a problem with the feed to the tertiary cerebral biotic implant."" There was a bitter expression on his face. "And my personal favorite "he won't remember anything."

"Evidently," Maria said, smoothly. "They were wrong." She walked away from the witness box.

"When questioned by SHIELD Agents, you positively identified the voice asking the doctor to increase the voltage as belonging to Daniel Constable." She pointed definitely at the bald man at the defense table.  
"So much for your clients' lack of knowledge." She said, with a very smug grin on her face.

*

Flashman did not like the expression on the defense lawyer's face as he got to his feet.

"Mr. Logan," he began slowly. "You have a pretty impressive military record here. Decorated numerous times for courage under fire."

The mutant made no reply, watching the other man with the caution that Flashman would have expected from an experienced cage fighter.

"Your discipline record is pretty impressive too. There are no less than ten counts of assaulting a senior officer."  
Maria was on her feet, but Logan was quicker than she was.

"I'm not a drone. If I see something I don't like, I call it. If a guy chooses not to listen, then what happens next is their fault."

"Really?" the young man's face had a triumphant expression on it. "Was the events of the fifth of September the fault of Larry Hamas."  
Flashman closed his eyes. Maria had skimmed over this, during both Logan and Cat's testimony, but He was sure this guy would use it against them.

"You don't seem too familiar with the name." the defense lawyer had a smile like a wolves'. "Let me remind you. Larry Hama was the man you killed on the firing range."

"It was an accident." Logan's voice sounded desperate and FLashman fought the desire to demand that Cat created another recess.

"indeed." The lawyer was circling the table. "An accidentally ricochet, by an expert marksman." His smile was crueler than ever. "How did that happen I wonder? Could it be that your hands were shaking? Shaking due to alcohol abuse."  
Wolverine was silent, but his head hung in shame.

"Because that's another thing that comes through these Files, Mr. Logan." The Lawyer was moving in for the kill. "Your abusive relationship with drugs and alcohol."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry to anyone whose being waiting for an update, I've been publishing this story at Wolverine Files Forum (search for us online), and completely forgot about it. I have serveral chapters, so I'll spread them out over a few days. Poke me if I forget.

Chapter 8

Smash. Samson understood better now Fury's insistence that they remove all glassware form the safe house before the trial began. The china mixing bowl had spilt almost exactly in two, and he could see blood running down Cat's wrist.

"Enn!" Cat declared, through gritted teeth. "Bastard!"

He was fairly sure that she was referring to the defence lawyer, rather than any of the men present. He watched as she grabbed a towel and scrunched it into a ball against the cut.

"So Wolverine had some issue with alcohol. So did about three quarters of the agents we were serving with. Ask Carol if you don't believe me."

He said nothing.

"We were seeing things, knowing things, doing things that no one can and stay sane. So some of the time we turned to other methods to get through. Command encouraged it. And if it was worse for us than for the others, then there's a practical reason for that. We were bloody terrified."

"How did you learn about mutants?" Samson asked, more out of curiosity, than any real belief that she'd answer. Cat paused, some of the anger leaving her.

"We all always knew were different." She said slowly. "But you hid any way you could. I'm still viewed as one of the experts in faking injuries as a result." She let out a humourless laugh. "It was easy in the intelligence services, we moved around so much that medical records got misplaced, or at least that what we believed." She shrugged. "First encountered mutants in the good old USSR. The soviet super-soldier program. We kinda screwed up and got captured. One of the scientists aced if we knew what a mutant was." She shivered. "I've never forgotten what he said when we said no. "It doesn't matter. A wolf doesn't need to know what a wolf is. He just needs to be a wolf."" She shook her head. "We all agreed the guy was crazy when we got out, but I think, I know, we all thought about it." She turned to face him. "Look up a mutant in any dictionary, even now, it isn't too complimentary. "Most mutations are harmful, but occasionally they are beneficially.""

"Most people would say that been able to heal from any injury is beneficial" Samson said, slowly. Cat's eyes flashed.

"It doesn't feel that way when you're been sent out time after time, with perhaps a couple of hours in-between. When you're so tired, you don't even know which country you're in. when you can't even think, just see, those images." She was shivering. "We were terrorized. If you think kids are scared these days, you should have seen us then."

"so you turned to any way to blot it out." Samson said gently.

"And to mean you slept." Cat said quietly. "There's a point where you're too tired to sleep. It's horrid." She shook her head. "We did what we thought we had to survive. And if we got it wrong, then we more than paid."

* * *

Getting hold of the address had been ridiculously easy. If these ex-mutants thought the government had no idea where they were, they were sadly mistaken.

He wondered if Maverick remembered when this place had been one of Team X's bolt holes, or if his memory was Swiss cheesed like Logan's as a result of what they had done to him.

Getting in to the place wouldn't have been a problem, but he was an old enough soldier to know that he needed Maverick's good will if his plan was to have a chance. So he positioned himself leaning against the lamp post, clearly visible from the windows of the building.

Perhaps there were more people after these ex-mutants than he realized, as it was nearly midnight before he heard the sound of a gun clicking near his ear. Stupid not to remember as a result of the Weapon X guys messing that he had no scent.

"What do you want?"

"To talk to you," he said, turning to see his target. "Christoph."

He felt the gun withdrawn.

"Or would you prefer David."

"It's more accurate." The mercenary holstered his gun. "What do you want John?"

The older mutant didn't bother with anymore pleasantries.

"You need to give evidence."

"It's not my fight."

"Says who?"

They gazed at each other for a moment, before John Howlett continued.

"She needs you."

"She's got James."

"He didn't go through it with her. You did." He sighed. "The defence has done some digging. Trying to make out it didn't happen or even that they volunteered or it was designed to help."

Maverick's eyes flashed dangerously.

"They're liars."

"So go prove it." He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew the file he had hidden here.

There was a small part of him that was pleased at the expression of horror that spread across Maverick's face.

* * *

Maria walked across the courtroom slowly. Her face was perfectly calm and gave no indication that the events of yesterday had even happened.

"Mr. Logan, you were employed at the time of the incident by department K of the Canadian Government?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah."

"Now what did that involve?"

The mutant shrugged. "Black Ops, James bond stuff…"

"Sounds tough."

The mutant shrugged again. "You got used to it."

"Where was that? America, Canada?"

The mutant nodded his head. "Russia, Korea, Cuba…"

"Different time zones." Maria observed. "What was the Change over time between Missions?"

Wolverine shrugged again, his eyes remaining on the floor, as they had through out the questioning. "Couple of hours. Sometimes less."

Maria shook her head. "Must have been rough." She observed. "And I understand that your partner, and friend, Neil Langram was killed a couple of weeks before hand. Did you get any time off?"

"No."

"So…" Maria said, walking up to the Jury box. "You were frequently working on four or five different time zones, your best friend had been murdered. If it was me, I'd have been a wreck."

The mutant said nothing.

"Exhibit X, your honor." Maria didn't look at him, and Nick and Flashman ducked their heads.

"Commander Logan of the Canadian Intelligence Services medical files." The black haired head jerked up like a puppet on a string. "I would ask the jury to pay particular attention to the report on page 29."

She faced the defence lawyer, her eye harsh. "Where Doctor Rivers, who I will later be calling, rebukes any evidence of psychosis, and includes the prescription for most of the drugs my colleague mentioned."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"I've told you. I don't know where they came from." Cat stepped through the door, throwing herself down on the sofa.

"Canadian Government ain't going to help,"

"Especially not when it makes them look bad." Wraith interrupted, earning him an angry glance from Cat and Logan for interrupting the argument they'd been having since they left the courthouse.

"So it could only have come from your lot." Logan continued, choosing to ignore the interruption.

"Not from me."

"She's telling the truth, Logan." Flashman stepped through the door, and stood regarding the mutants. "She didn't give it to Maria." He reached and slowly poured himself a whisky and soda. "I Did."

A beeper on his waist went off, and after a quick consolation of it, he drained his glass and set upon the table.

"I will offer explanations later." He said, perfectly calmly, and stepped outside.

Cat gave a small snort. "Sixty years and Flashy still surprises me." She said, to no one in particular.

* * *

"I hope this is someone's idea of a joke." The grey eyes bored into Maria, and she fought the desire to shift nervously.

"You wanna tell why that would be Cher?"

Flashman snorted. "Let's see, shall we? We've just submitted a physc report, which will fall through if the defense finds out that Dr. Rivers also found no evidence of psychosis in one Victor Creed, a.k.a Sabretooth. You now inform me that you wish to put a Convicted thief and liar on the stands. For God's sake, that mutant's record is bad enough public. If the defence starts digging, we might as well throw in the towel.

"Beyond that, what does the evidence prove? Nothing except that they weren't the only ones. We know that, the jury knows that. We have one of the top forensic Archaeologists, or whatever you people call them, to testify about the bodies we found around those sites." His fingers drummed on the tables.

"There's a lot about this case you don't know, Maria. A lot, I pray you never find out. Find the kid and tell him to keep his mouth shut. To never mention this to anyone again, including that Red headed rogue." He shook his head and began to head for the door.

"You told me cher, that you wanted to get them." Maria's voice was accusatory.

"Oh, I do, Cherie," he said, turning, his voice harsh and mocking. "But what I want more than that, more than anything else, is to keep them alive. To make sure no one else dies." He put his head on one side, regarding them. "is that too much to ask?"

* * *

"Call Christoph Nord."

Maverick stepped up. He took the bible and swore the oath softly, before confirming his identity.

Maria chewed her lip. Maverick was a doubled edge sword, they'd agreed on that at least. On the one hand, he was the most normal looking, most easy to sympathise with of the group. On the other, he was also the former mercenary.

"Mr Nord, after the break up of Team X, what did you do?"

Maverick shrugged. "I tried to find work. Any kind of work, really. But because I had virtually no papers, and I came from East Germany, no one would employ me." He sighed. "I was getting desperate. I could not go home, the government had killed my friends, and turned the woman I loved into a traitor." Maria allowed herself a little smile. Sixty years later and the pain was still raw enough for the jury to see it. "Then I received a letter offering me work."

"Did the letter say what kind?"

Maverick shook his head. "No. Just that I should go and meet a man in a bar, and he would tell me. It also said that it would not hurt the interests of the United States."

He looked at the jury. "I was suspicious, but desperate. My landlord flung the letter at me along with my belongings. So I went."

"What happened?"

"There was a man, sitting at a table, near the back. He invited me to share a drink."

"Did he give you a name?"

"No."

"Would you recognise him if you saw him again?"

"Yes."

"Is he here in Court?" Maverick nodded and pointed to the silver haired gentleman.

"Let the record show that the witness indentified Marcus Korper as the man he met." Marie turned back to Maverick.

"Then what happened?"

"there was a glass on the table. A hefe-weizen." He shook his head. "It had been a long time since I had had one of those. The man claimed he was from an organization that was interested in employing me." He swallowed. "I rather stupidly drank some of the beer while he talked." He shook his head, remembering. "The room seemed to be getting hotter, I tried to focus, realising too late what had happened."

"You had been drugged?" The defence was on his feet, reminding Maria not to lead.

"I'll rephrase taht then. What did you think had happened?"

Maverick shrugged. "That I had been a fool to think I could escape."

* * *

"How's it going?" Flashman turned to see Cap's former sidekick, standing leaning against the courtroom wall. The area was normally reserved for smokers, but he understood why the kid was here.

Sometimes you just needed to breathe.

"As well as can be expected."

Bucky smiled. "You don't change do you Flashman?"

"Do any of us?"

"Creed," Bucky observed. "I find it hard to believe that he was as mad as he is, was, when he was their team."

"Maybe," Flashman agreed. "But the bloodlust, the anger, the madness, that was always there, just below the surface, until it bubbled over."

"How?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"How did it bubble over? What happened to destroy Team X?"

Flashman shuffled, longing for a cigarette to stub out. "I thought Cat told you."

"She said Creed went Rogue and the Team was spilt up afterwards. Except that makes no sense." The blue eyes that stared out at him revealed the true age of their owner's youthful face. "Team X was useful, valuable to them, why would get rid of them because of one rogue agent?"

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
_Blood. Green liquid, the smell of burning flesh, skin tearing. The screams of the dying, and he was running.__Stop him someone__The leaves tore at his face and arms. Roots tripped him, sending him flying into soft earth; he pulled himself up, trying to ignore the crashing sound coming at him through the trees._

"NO!" Maverick sat bolt upright, sweat pouring off him. He glanced down at his hands, expecting to see the gloves, the old black ones he had worn with Team X. Instead his hands were bare. Scarred, but bare.

Shaking his head, he swung his legs out of bed. He'd had enough of those dreams to know he wasn't going back to sleep.

Slowly, he walked from the room that he had been assigned and into the night.

The house was still and in darkness, but he needed no help to navigate in this environment. One where he knew the biggest danger he faced was running into Cat or Logan after a nightmare.

A faint trace of light slipped out from under the kitchen door. Slowly, he pushed it, almost certain who it would be.

"Hey." Cat was sitting at the table, a glass of milk in front of her. She was dressed in a pair of white fleecy pyjamas, her short hair hanging around her face.

Cat always looked decades younger than she was, but tonight, coupled with the milk moustache she was sporting, she didn't look any older than the kids Logan worked with. If the jury saw her now, he had no doubt they would convict the men without even asking for evidence.

"Hey." He sat down, as she got to her feet, wandering over to the cupboards and pulling a glass from it. She poured some milk into it, and reached up into the cupboard next to it.

"Do you still like chocolate?"

"That depends. Do I need to worry about angry Russian assassins?"

Her eyes flashed. "Ex."

"Boyfriend or assassin?"

Their eyes met over the table. For once, possibly in recognition of what he was doing, Cat dropped her.

"It doesn't matter. James is well aware of what you were and are to me. Same with him and Natasha." He nodded, slowly.

"Chocolate is still good."

Cat smiled, adding the pale brown powder to the mixture.

"Ironic isn't it? How the restrictive nature of our childhood affects us?" She stirred the mixture, careful not catch the spoon on the edge of the glass. "You, a child of first Nazi rationing and then the Communists, so when you have the chance, you indulge in the capitalist decadence of adding chocolate to milk."

"Then surely you should also love chocolate milk?"

Cat shook her head, tapping her chest. "Child of Second World War. Milk was rationed then, remember. Every time I got back, there would be someone trying to force a glass and a half of milk down me, for bone growth and actually getting some fat on me." She shrugged. "Guess I started associating it with home."

"You two still drink that crap?" Maverick's hand went to where his gun would be, but Cat smiled into the darkness.

"You still able to pull off a disappearing trick, or that artificial?"

Wraith stepped forward, shrugging.

"Don't ask, won't tell?"

Cat smiled. "I should probably tell you the danger of drinking pop this late at night."

"No beer."

"Surprises me from Fury." Again Maverick's hand went to his weapon, but Cat said, "You want strawberry Log, or have the kids got you out of that habit?"

"Now why would they do that?"

Cat shrugged. "Always thought you were doing it just to be controversial, when they wouldn't let us drink." She grimaced, gazing at the pinkening liquid. "I have no idea how you drink that stuff. It's just basically chemicals that don't even taste like strawberries."

"So?"

Cat shook her head, putting the glass in front of Logan and retaking her seat. Wraith leant against the work top.

"Feels like old times." He observed.

"Not quite. Two missing."

Silence reigned for a moment, before Cat spoke up, lifting her glass in a toast.

"To absent friends. Long may they stay that way."

Logan grinned, raising his own glass, and Maverick laughed softly. Wraith frowned. "I can't agree with that?"

"What you want Creed back?"

"Not Creed."

Silence reigned, as they all thought of Mastodon.

"This a private party, or can anyone join?"

Maverick didn't bother reaching for his weapons, simply contented himself with a vicious glare at the man, as he stood bare chested in the moon light.

Cat however, smiled like she was seeing her best friend.

"Did we wake you?"

Bucky snorted. "Seem to remember you being the light sleeper." He shrugged, the light reflecting off his metal arm. "Nah. Woke up and you were gone. Figured I'd better find you, else Fury would have my guts."

Cat rose, walking softly over to him, running her fingers over his chest.

"Sorry I worried you." She muttered, softly. Maverick got to his feet.

"Excuse me; I think I will go back to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."

He pushed past them and out of the kitchen.

* * *

"You sure you don't want the bed?" Bucky asked, sitting down.

"Told you, when I'm in a bed, I don't sleep." Cat grinned, "'Sides at the moment, probably safe and cheaper for Fury if I'm not sleeping anywhere while this shit is going on."

"You going to sleep?" He asked, sitting down. Cat shrugged.

"You know me. One hour's about all I need."

"O.K." Bucky said, pulling the sheets up to his chest. "So, you going to tell me why you're so determined to convince Maverick that we're still sleeping together?"

Cat sighed. "On second thoughts, I think I'd rather sleep."

"Aren't you supposed to say, I'm not."

Cat snorted. "It's complicated, and off limits, unless you want me to mention the age gap between you and Nat."

"Alright." Bucky's eyes narrowed. "What about the last mission of Team X?"

Cat shrugged, looking towards the window. "I told you about Janice."

"Not the last mission. That wasn't for another six months." Bucky's eyes narrowed. "I asked Flashman. He said that Creed went nuts on a mission. Killed a lot of G.I.s, nearly killed you." His eyes were slits. "What happened?"

Cat sighed, pulling her sheets around her legs, hugging her knees. "They're kinda connected." She muttered, sighing. "How would you describe you and me getting together?"

Bucky snorted. "Teenage Hormones and a need to relieve stress with someone who didn't judge or expect anything from us."

Cat smiled. "Good answer." She sighed. "That's what Maverick and I were supposed to be, but without the teenage hormones. It...It wasn't like us." She sighed. "Mav and I, we got along. More than the usual of two Europeans in America. And we were both hurt and in pain." She looked at Bucky seriously. "Maverick's wife turned out to be a spy for the Russians. Betrayed his whole gang. He'd sworn off love too." She shrugged. "Neither of us was prepared to pay, and that was a risky strategy even before AIDs. It was just supposed to be...what do they call it now? Friends with benefits. Wasn't like we were the only ones. Logan was bonking Fox, until she deserted, we all knew about Wraith and Mastodon and Creed..." She shook her head. "Let's just say I don't want to think about his stress relief, but there were always some pleased faces when we left."

"Ignoring rape." Bucky frowned. "Doesn't sound like you."

Cat shrugged. "None of us were ourselves then, and I think they consented to sleep with him initially. Then they found out about Creed's tastes."

Bucky winced.

"We kept it up for nearly ten years." Cat continued. "Though Vietnam. Though Fox's desertion and us catching her with that terrorist cell, though...Christ I don't even want to think about some of the shit we got each other through." She was gazing into the distance.

"What happened?"

Cat sighed. "I didn't want to fall in love. You know what I think of that, it's how pimps get women, it's how women fall. Love is," She shook her head. "Love is for fools, and I swore I'd never be a fool."

"Not sure you get to make that call."

"It was little things. Maverick hugging rather than escaping back to his own bunk, a meal eaten alone and one morning I looked at him and I realised he was seeing me. Not her." She closed her eyes, water glistening on the lashes. "Maybe I could have accepted it, if it wasn't for what happened next."

"The last mission."

Cat nodded, softly. "They're connected." She said, quietly. "The Government's official stance was that there were no POWs left in Vietnam."

"Not true." Bucky observed softly. "Still guys missing today."

Cat nodded. "We were looking for one bunch. Supposed to be an easy mission. Chance to rebuild trust. Should have known it was going to be a disaster." She made a motion that had it come from anyone else Bucky would have said was wiping their eyes. But Cat never cried, unless she knew you could use it.

"Logan and Creed were still snapping at each other, cos of Janice, but none of us thought much of it. Creed had done worse than that, and we'd pulled through." Bucky nodded. "It was in the jungle. We found the scent easily enough, the trail was obvious. It was what we kept finding that wasn't so clear."

"Bodies?"

Cat gave a bitter, half hysterical laugh. "No. Bodies would have been easy. No these ones were alive."

_

* * *

_

"Same symptoms as the others?" Logan asked, pushing aside the flap of the temporary MASH Tent Cat had set up.

_"Dehydration, malnutrition, oh and mental abnormalities. Which reminds me." She tossed a jar of antiseptic cream at Maverick.__"Get this on you."__"I'm not the one he bit."__Cat shrugged. "I heal."__She looked around. "Where's Creed?"_

* * *

"I don't know if they knew what hit him. Or whether it was part of mission we weren't supposed to know about or what" she paused, swallowing.

"They called it the pit. Just a hole in the ground. They just threw them in there and heaped some earth on top. Left them there."

"Nice guys."

"There are worse." Cat observed philosophically. "Definitely didn't deserve what Creed did to them."

"I Remember Logan when he was caught." Bucky's face contracted, and he shivered. "Take it Creed was as bad."

"Worse." Cat said, softly. "Logan ...he stays in control, when he's caught. Thinks his way out of it. Creed just..." She shook her head. "He just killed. Didn't care if you were friend or foe."

"He went for you."

"We found him. Only took us an hour. But...he didn't know us."

She shook her head.

"He went Berserker?" Bucky asked, nervously. He'd seen Logan go berserker once with the Avengers. Not a sight easily forgotten and the photos he's seen of Creed suggest that the guy was worse.

"Yeah." Cat sighed, hugging her knees. "He...didn't know if we were friends or foes. It wasn't a human face. It was an animal." She whispered, softly. "He turned around and we started running."

Bucky can do the maths. Cat's a girl, so she'd automatically be slower than the guys. He'd done missions in the jungle, knew how hard it could be running without your former teammate chasing you.

"I tripped." Cat said her voice hoarse. "Fell down. Creed was right behind us. I thought" she made the wiping motion again. "I thought I was going to die. Maverick turned around and he...he emptied a clip into Creed. Just kept firing until he backed off."

"You were his teammate." Bucky said, slowly. "He would have..."

Cat interrupted him, shaking her head. "No. No I could see it in his eyes...just no."

"O.K." Bucky said, drawing out the letters. "So...what has that to do with your determination to convince Maverick we're sleeping together?"

Cat turned to him, her eyes shining. "It was my fault."

"What was?"

"Maverick could have found work. He could have gone back to Europe, back to Germany or England, lord only knows there were more than enough over there. They wouldn't have found him there, but he didn't. He stayed in America. Because of me."

Without further explanations, she pulled herself to her feet. "I have to go."

"Where?"

She didn't even glance in his direction. "Somewhere that isn't here."


End file.
